Cryotherapy is one of the most revolutionizing treatments in the pain-management industry today. It’s become a go-to method for dealing with acute or chronic pain.
Modern-day cryotherapy is a procedure that means cold therapy. When treated with extreme cold, the body prompts the removal of toxins, reduces inflammation, and promotes healing.
Commonly requested by celebrities and professional athletes, cryotherapy for athletic injuries and musculoskeletal pain has gained popularity among all of Dr. Sardar’s patients in Brooklyn, New York. With cryotherapy, expect impressive results after just a few sessions.
Keep reading to learn more about localized cryotherapy therapy in our pain management clinic in Brooklyn, New York, how it works, and why it might be perfect for you if you’re looking for pain relief.
What Is Cryotherapy?
Whenever you injure your ankle or knee, the first thing you do is apply ice packs. Ice is one of the more common cold therapies. It helps improve blood flow and reduces swelling in the treated area.
Cryotherapy works through the same principle but on a more intense scale. Cryotherapy is a way of lowering the temperature of the injured site to create therapeutic relief. It is used by athletes and non-athletes alike to ensure improved physical, mental, and holistic health.
There are two forms of cryotherapy, namely: Whole-Body Cryotherapy and Localized Cryotherapy. Whole-Body Cryotherapy entails entering a chamber and exposing your entire body, except your head, to the extremely cold temperature.
At our pain management Brooklyn clinic, we offer Localized Cryotherapy. This type of cryotherapy allows us to target specific areas with cold, almost freezing temperatures. Localized treatment is considered more efficient and manageable for quick muscle recovery compared to cryo chambers and ice baths.
If you are interested in learning more about localized cryotherapy in our Brooklyn pain management clinic, give us a call right now to learn more. Dr. Sardar is offering all his patients the opportunity to try out cryotherapy first-hand and see its therapeutic effects for themselves.
How Does Localized Cryotherapy Work To Relieve Pain?
Cryotherapy achieves its pain-relief and healing effects in several ways.2 The sub-zero reduction in temperature affects superficial and deep tissue and alters its physiology to boost its healing:
- Vessel constriction (vasoconstriction): the subzero temperatures cause intense vasoconstriction in the blood vessels in the targeted area. This subsequently reduces inflammation and swelling by removing fluid exudates and minimizing the accumulation of lactic acid in the targeted area.
- Reflex vessel dilatation (vasodilatation): After the cryotherapy treatment, the vessels widen to restore the normal tissue temperature. This increases the blood circulation and rewarms the affected area, allowing nutrients, oxygen, and growth factors to reach the damaged tissue. This effectively speeds up healing and improves your range of motion.
- Reduction in nerve transmission: The extreme cold will numb the pain receptors (nociceptors) and stop the transmission of pain signals to the brain. This is a similar mechanism to local anesthetics and can dampen any pain in the treated area. Cryotherapy decreases the nerve conduction velocity, altering your pain threshold level. Stimulation of cutaneous cold receptors by cryotherapy subsequently increases the pain threshold and reduces painful stimulus.
Localized cryotherapy is a relatively painless treatment method and is not performed with any anesthesia. Patients have described feeling an exhilarating rush followed by numbness.
What Conditions Does Cryotherapy Treat?
At our pain therapy clinic in Brooklyn, New York, we use localized cryotherapy to alleviate chronic and acute pain from sports injuries, inflammatory diseases, degenerative diseases, and other musculoskeletal and systemic disorders.
These are some of the conditions that Cryotherapy can treat:
- Neck (cervical) pain
- Lower back (lumbar) pain
- Arthritis (joint inflammation)
- Sprains
- Muscle strains
- Tendonitis (tendon inflammation)
- Tendon injuries
- Post-orthopedic surgery
- Delayed onset muscle soreness
- Fibromyalgia
- Multiple sclerosis
- Bursitis (inflammation of soft issue pads around joints)
- Tenosynovitis (tendon sheath inflammation)
- Osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease)
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Achilles tendonitis
- Frozen shoulder syndrome
- Tennis elbow
If you are experiencing any of the conditions mentioned above, call us to set a pain relief appointment with Dr. Sardar, and get a personalized cryotherapy treatment plan according to your body’s needs.
Am I A Candidate For Cryotherapy?
Cryotherapy aims to relieve musculoskeletal pain and promote quick muscle recovery. Although very popular among big-shot professional athletes, it can be beneficial for everyone. If you suffer from any acute or chronic pain, Cryotherapy may be the therapy for you, especially when combined with other pain-relief techniques, like cold laser or shock wave therapy.
Cryotherapy is suitable for all ages and all body types and is equally beneficial for all.
However, cryotherapy may be contraindicated in certain conditions:
- Pregnancy
- Hypertensive crisis
- Deep venous thrombosis
- Recent stroke
- Recent myocardial infarction
- Raynaud’s syndrome
- Blood vessel diseases
How Is Localized Cryotherapy Performed?
Localized Cryotherapy involves using cold temperatures in specific areas to treat musculoskeletal pain. Dr. Sardar utilizes a unique and advanced device – called Cryo Polar Bear- to apply cold temperatures over the targeted region.
At your appointment, Dr. Henry Sardar, pain management doctor, will assess your condition and physical health for a personalized cryotherapy treatment plan suited to you.
The cryotherapy device makes use of cryogenic chemicals, like liquid nitrogen, to produce near-freezing temperatures. Depending on your condition and Dr. Sardar’s assessment, you can be exposed to temperatures around -148°F and -220°F. Don’t worry; it may seem insanely cold, but localized cryotherapy is comfortable enough for your body to manage.
The hose will be moved around the target area to reach deeper structures and attack the pain from all possible angles.
Sessions can last from three to five minutes and can extend up to a maximum of ten minutes, depending on your condition. You may experience numbness in the treated area because of reduced blood flow in the skin. After treatment, your body spontaneously returns skin temperature to normal.
Depending on your body’s natural healing response, you may need several successive sessions to experience full muscle recovery.
What Are The Benefits Of Cryotherapy?
Aside from treating general body pains and chronic conditions, here are other benefits associated with cryotherapy:
- Decreased muscle soreness: Delayed onset muscle soreness is a common condition faced by athletes within twenty-four hours of vigorous training. The immediate application of cryotherapy reduces secondary hypoxia (lack of oxygen), enzymatic injury, and soreness in the muscle. Increased joint and muscle strength also mean increased energy and performance.
- Improves quality of sleep: Cryotherapy increases the production of hormones, specifically norepinephrine and endorphins. Norepinephrine is vital in regulating your sleep/wake cycle and producing mild sedative effects. Endorphins act as a de-stressor, diminishing pain perception and reducing cortisol levels.
- Strengthens the immune system: Cryotherapy immediately lowers inflammation and pain by stimulating our white blood cells. With a marked increase in the anti-inflammatory cytokines, your body produces more WBCs to relieve pain, inflammation, and edema.
- Increased metabolism/Weight loss: After cryotherapy, your body uses a lot of energy to rewarm itself from the cold temperature. During a three-minute full-body cryo treatment, you burn approximately 500 to 800 calories.
- Boosts collagen: Collagen is popularly known as the key to youthful skin. Cryotherapy rejuvenates the collagen matrix, reducing wrinkles and fine lines. Cryotherapy also encourages microcirculation and lymph drainage, providing immediate skin tightening.
Can Localized Cryotherapy Be Combined With Other Procedures?
A cryotherapy session before physical therapy rehabilitation gives fast and effective results in minimizing inflammation.
Cryotherapy has proven to have analgesic properties. It decreases pain, tenderness, and swelling within a short amount of time, allowing physical therapists to carry out exercises without the pain barrier.
Moreover, cryotherapy can be combined with other pain-reducing modalities to boost healing and pain relief:
- Cold laser therapy
- Shock-wave therapy
- Kinesiology taping
- Electromagnetic Transduction therapy (EMTT)
- TECAR Therapy
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy
- Perineural Injection Therapy (PIT)
- Acupuncture Therapy
- Aqua Therapy
- Ultrasound-Guided Injections
- Fluoroscopically Guided Epidural Steroid Injection and Facet Injection
- Physical and Occupational Therapy
What Is Recovery Like After Localized Cryotherapy?
The recovery phase after localized cryotherapy depends on the level of your condition. If your treatment is for relief from fatigue, muscle pain, or inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders, the recovery takes almost no time at all.
The goal of cryotherapy is to achieve an immediate decrease in pain, inflammation, and edema, leaving you feeling more energized and active as you leave treatment sessions.
How Much Does Localized Cryotherapy Cost?
Localized cryotherapy is now accessible to all patients here at Pain Therapy Medical Care in Brooklyn, New York.
Dr. Henry Sardar trusts that cryotherapy can provide impressive relief from your muscle pain and significantly speed up your healing. This is why he’s offering all his patients a trial session to experience the benefit of cryotherapy for pain in New York themselves, regardless of their insurance coverage.
We accept most major insurance providers for this and other services at our pain management clinic – New York State Medicaid, HealthFirst, Fidelis Care, Affinity Group, Metro Plus, Amerigroup, BlueCross / BlueShield Medicaid Plan, and United Health Care Community Plan coverage are all welcome.
Contact us to learn more about our services and book your next session with us right here in Brooklyn, New York.
Outlook
Over the last decade, the cryotherapy trend has expanded from celebrities and athletes to anyone suffering from chronic musculoskeletal conditions. With boundless health benefits and minimal side effects, it is proven to be the treatment of choice for pain.
Localized cryotherapy is one of the fastest and safest ways to promote tissue healing. It stimulates tissue waste removal, reduces inflammation, and enhances muscle recovery.
Dr. Henry Sardar, the pain management doctor, is one of the top reliable cryotherapy providers here in Brooklyn, New York. If you are interested in cryotherapy as a way to treat your pain, give us a call. We’ll gladly answer all your questions.
FAQs
- Is localized cryotherapy painful? Dr. Sardar’s Cryotherapy treatment exposes localized skin to cold temperatures. With reduced blood flow to the area, you might feel numbness. The temperatures are consistently cold enough to be effective but also comfortable and not painful at all.
- Is localized cryotherapy safe? Cryotherapy is a safe procedure for all ages. However, if not performed by experienced personnel, there is a chance of ice burns. We recommended consulting Dr. Sardar for appropriate cryotherapy treatment.
- How many sessions of localized cryotherapy are required before I can see results? Although five to ten sessions are ideal, results can be seen as early as after the first session. Furthermore, the number of treatment sessions also depends on the extent of your condition.
- Does cryotherapy promote healing? Cryotherapy promotes healing by constricting the blood vessels and reducing the blood flow to that area. It reduces inflammation, swelling, and pain. It is commonly used to relieve pain in sports injuries quickly and speed up healing.
- Is localized cryotherapy effective in acute conditions? Cryo is effective for numerous problems like acute sports injuries and post-operative conditions. It’s an effective non-pharmacological treatment to reduce inflammatory reactions and pain.
- Can localized cryotherapy help get rid of my warts? Yes. Cryotherapy is a treatment of choice for the non-surgical removal of warts. Liquid nitrogen is applied on warts and, within minutes, gives impressive results. Warts scab off in one to two days. This procedure is usually done by a dermatologist, and hence it’s not currently offered at our center.
- Is cryotherapy only for professional athletes? No, it is not only beneficial for professional athletes. Cryotherapy can be beneficial for men and women of all ages and professions. You can use it for general body discomfort or acute soft tissue injuries like knee osteoarthritis.
- Is cryotherapy proven to give good results? Cryotherapy is scientifically proven to help in reduce pain, swelling, and anxiety and assist in rehabilitation. Cryotherapy’s near-freezing temperatures help treat tinnitus, restless leg syndrome, skin conditions, and athletic and soft tissue injuries.
- Is cryotherapy a fad? Cryotherapy is a tried-and-tested treatment that is growing in popularity. This is evident in the increasing cryotherapy centers and health professionals that encourage its use and numerous scientific articles that have proven its benefits.
Cryotherapy Therapies New York – Further Readings
Effects of Topical Icing on Inflammation, Angiogenesis, Revascularization, and Myofiber Regeneration in Skeletal Muscle Following Contusion Injury
Cryotherapy Cold Therapy for Pain Management
Effects of cryotherapy methods on circulatory, metabolic, inflammatory and neural properties: a systematic review
Motor and Sensory Nerve Conduction Are Affected Differently by Ice Pack, Ice Massage, and Cold Water Immersion
Cryotherapy for low-back pain
Whole-body cryostimulation (cryotherapy) provides benefits for fatigue and functional status in multiple sclerosis patients. A case-control study